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PALM CITY — Bryce Miranda, a 16-year-old Martin County High School student, was home alone Tuesday afternoon for summer break when he heard someone at the front door of his family's home.

A man he didn't know knocked several times at about 3 p.m. and rang the doorbell repeatedly "kind of like a child — ding-dong, ding-dong," he said.

"I kind of thought it was weird because they kept knocking," Bryce said. "So I knew that something was kind of off."

Looking through a shaded window, he saw the man leave the front door and go to the driveway. Bryce went to his bedroom and peeked through window blinds to see two men run from a white vehicle he didn't recognize into his backyard.

Bryce locked his bedroom doors and called 911.

Quick thinking helps nab burglars

He didn't know his call to the Martin County Sheriff's Office would help deputies catch three suspected Broward County pillowcase burglars within the next hour.

Sheriff's deputy Carlo Sciandra caught the driver, 26-year-old Tory Jermaine Grissett of Fort Lauderdale, still in the driveway of the house in the Canoe Creek neighborhood.

But the other two — 32-year-old Joseph Brown III and 22-year-old Henry Marcus Harp III, both of Fort Lauderdale — ran south. Air and K-9 units began looking for them.

Sheriff's deputy Kevin Fritchie and his K-9 followed their mile-long trail behind the house and through the neighborhood for the next 45 minutes. The two men had jumped fences and swam across a lake to get to the Crane Creek neighborhood.

Fritchie commandeered a neighbor's small boat to take him and his K-9 across the lake and catch the two soaked men on the old Crane Creek golf course.

Deputies also found a wet pillowcase filled with jewelry and a laptop, which were later returned to the Miranda family.

Sheriff William Snyder said at a news conference later in the afternoon that Bryce "had good presence of mind" when he called 911.

"The 16-year-old (boy) was a textbook case of what you should do," Snyder said. "He hid himself in the house once he realized someone was in there. He called 911, gave us a good description and that allowed us to catch the two that were missing."

Pillowcase burglars have hit more than 200 homes

Pillowcase burglars, who use pillowcases to carry their loot, have hit more than 200 homes on the Treasure Coast in the past few years. Snyder said his office alone has more than 40 suspected pillowcase burglars in custody.

Bryce knew about previous pillowcase burglaries in his neighborhood, but said Snyder's advice about what to do if they come knocking didn't factor into how he reacted.

"I just knew that was the right thing to do," Bryce said. "My life could have been in jeopardy. ... I didn't know if they had any weapons."

Bryce said he wasn't nervous necessarily — just "out of breath on the phone because I didn't know what was going to happen to me."

He actually was thankful his plans to go to the beach with his mom fell through so he could be home to prevent more things from being stolen.

Bryce and his parents have talked about the possibility of pillowcase burglars hitting their home in the 1100 block of Southwest Keats Avenue. He said his mom wanted to keep their garage door open, but Canoe Creek doesn't have a security gate like other nearby neighborhoods.

"I keep telling her to close it because you never know, and she never does," Bryce said with a smile. "Definitely now after this, I think she will."